...“against unreasonable risks of injuries associated with consumer products.”...

1972 was an interesting year and an interesting and turbulent time in the USA.  Having survived the 1960s, the change instilled in the social fabric was still churning, but, taking root.

Escambia High School proved to be one of the more turbulent arenas when its 'sports symbols' remained racially charged.  They openly displayed the Confederate Flag, their mascot was the "Colonel Rebel" of Ole Miss. and their official school song was "Dixie." 

The school saw both violent and nonviolent demonstrations with lawsuits besides.

http://www.pensapedia.com/wiki/Escambia_High_School_riots

The students of the sixties were now entering their professional lives taking their values with them.

Consumer Protection was part of it as well and the Consumer Products Safety Act and Commission were born.  (click title to entry - thank you).

For the first time in American history, the consumer was important to the government and it would oversee the safety of their hard earned purchases.

In 1955 the population of the USA was 165,938,202. Consumerism was rampant and the 'status' of the USA people was booming.

The advent of consumerism in the USA would change the face of 'status' and the Middle Class was born.  It would also expect to be safe, in time, as their new products proved to be a little less than they expected in providing carefee service.

This 1955 Chevy is a classic and cultural icon.

By the 1950s, the telephone was so much a part of the USA culture there were jokes about it.

"What is the fastest mean of communication?"

"Telephone, Television and Tell a Woman."

With that women found they were needed as telephone operators.

The first woman on USA television was Edna Mae Horner.

When AT&T held its pioneering demonstration of television (click title to entry - thank you) on April 7, 1927, Edna Mae Horner, an operator at the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, helped guests in Washington, D.C., exchange greetings with the audience in New York. Throughout the presentation, viewers in New York could see and hear Edna as she called eager audience members to the transmitting equipment.
In reporting the day’s events, The New York Times noted that Edna was “one good-looking girl with fluffy hair, and as cool and efficient as if she had been at the television-telephone switchboard all her life.”

The First Telephone and Receiver proved to be safe.

In 1876, at the age of 29, Alexander Graham Bell invented his telephone. In 1877, he formed the Bell Telephone Company, and in the same year married Mabel Hubbard and embarked on a yearlong honeymoon in Europe.

Some time later, the telephone was perfected and life in the USA would never be the same.

Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters

In 1837 as the interruption of letters were an issue and the transportation of communication was slow, a new method of transmitting information was developed. 

It was through the development of the Morse Code and the transmission of sound along a wire.

The telegraph was born and it became an invaluable tool during the USA Civil War.  It was before the Civil War the insulatoin for the wire was achieved and it was safer for longer distance transmission without an electrical shock.

As a young nation grew in size the need to communicate was important.

The Pony Express was important because they got mail to the east coast west coast In a shorter amount of time. This was important because sometimes mail would not reach it's destination for months.This had a big impact on politics and communications. Even though the Pony express lasted only a year it changed the way people were informed about the latest events.

From time beginning people have needed to communicate.  It is sometimes the most expensive aspect of any society and business.  Maintaining a forward movement of any purpose for human history has surrounded communication and transportation. 

Writing with pen and ink, be it a quill, was a necessity to any form of civilization.  During the day of The Pony Express, there were inherent dangers to making progress.  They were known and measured dangers and compensated with enough monies to make the 'risk taking' worth it.  The Pony Express would be replaced by stage coach and railroad.  As time went by and cities grew the dangers diminished and today the USA Postal Service is in danger with competition from private carriers.  A different danger, but, a concern just the same.

It's Sunday Night

"Flowers After the Fact" by Terri Clark

Ten days too late you show up

With a sheepish grin and a bouquet in your hand
You make mistakes by the dozen
Don't think you can make it up the same way again


Flowers after the fact
Ain't gonna get me back
You gotta do something sooner and better than that
When you bring red roses
There's an ulterior motive
Don't give me flowers after the fact


No part of your heart's ever in it,
You're just trying to get your foot back in the door
I might feel like you meant it
If those long stems had come in the name of love before


Flowers after the fact
Ain't gonna get me back
You gotta do something sooner and better than that
When you bring red roses
There's an ulterior motive
Don't give me flowers after the fact


When you bring me red roses
There's an ulterior motive
Don't need no flowers after the fact
Now don't give me flowers after the fact

This weapon is as good as declaring war by Iran. This is simply stupid on the Iranians part.

Sun Aug 22, 2010 7:8AM

Iran unveils its first domestically-manufactured long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in a ceremony marking Defense Industry Day in the country.

There is only one purpose for this weapon and we all know what it is.  As soon as it leaves the airspace of Iran it will be shot down and there will be an impetus to war.  Nothing else to say.  Iran is inviting war with this weapon to justify its political rants.  It is a method of taunting The West and Israel into war.  It can't be ignored.  This IS an issue.

The number of tornadoes in Minnesota so far this year has topped any other year.

The Climate Crisis is shifting the dynamics of tornadoes and hurricanes in North America.

I'll do something tomorrow evening.

Tornado Alley moved to Minnesota in 2010. (click title to entry - thank you)
Maybe we should update the state slogan to say; "Welcome to the Land of 10,000 Lakes and 100 tornadoes."
We all know it's been an insanely busy severe weather year in Minnesota, but I about leaped out of my weather lab chair when I counted up the preliminary number of SPC tornado reports by state for 2010.
Minnesota leads the nation in the number of tornado touchdowns this year...by FAR.
Preliminary numbers show Minnesota has 122 tornado reports so far in 2010. The #2 state isn't even close. Texas has reported 87 tornadoes so far in 2010.
That's right folks; the frozen tundra of Minnesota has had 35 more tornado reports this year than Tornado Alley Texas.
Here are the top 5 "tornado states" for 2010.


(Keep in mind these are preliminary numbers through August 15th)
1) Minnesota 122 tornado reports


2) Texas 87 tornado reports


3) Kansas 80 tornado reports


4) Oklahoma 70 tornado reports


5) Colorado 62 tornado reports
Wisconsin comes in 6th with 59 tornado reports so far this year.
The numbers are stunning and remarkable for many reasons.

-This would be the first year in recorded history that Minnesota leads the nation in tornado touchdowns. (I'm still working on confirming this.)
-Since 2000 Texas has lead the nation in tornadoes 7 years. Kansas has lead twice, and Illinois once. Here are the numbers.
2009 Texas 125 tornadoes


2008 Kansas 185 tornadoes


2007 Texas 198 tornadoes


2006 Illinois 123 tornadoes


2005 Kansas 136 tornadoes


2004 Texas 178 tornadoes


2003 Texas 155 tornadoes


2002 Texas 172 tornadoes


2001 Texas 137 tornadoes


2000 Texas 146 tornadoes
-Texas would need to record roughly another 36 tornadoes to surpass Minnesota this year. This is certainly possible, but it seems just as likely Minnesota may hold onto the number one spot at this late point in the season.
-This year may possibly break the all time state record for confirmed tornadoes in Minnesota, which is 74 set in 2001....


Storms black out 82K Michigan homes, businesses  (click here)

Associated Press
August 19, 2010 10:54 PM ET

DETROIT (AP) - Thunderstorms bringing winds gusting to 75 miles per hour have pushed through parts of southeastern Michigan, knocking down trees and power lines, damaging roofs and blacking out about 82,000 utility customers.
DTE Energy Co. spokesman Scott Simons says about 80,000 of the homes and businesses it serves lost power. Many are in Macomb County northeast of Detroit. CMS Energy Corp. says about 1,700 of its customers lost power.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings Thursday night, but no funnel clouds were confirmed and much of the damage appeared to be from straight line winds.
Weather service meteorologist Rich Pollman in Oakland County's White Lake Township tells the Detroit Free Press that spotters reported winds of up to 75 mph.

\
 
Michigan Tornado 2010
 
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-483830?hpt=C2\
 
CNN producer note


Tirendi was huddled with his family in Macomb, Michigan, on Thursday evening when a tornado came through town. He shot this video of the storm rolling in and items being tossed and smashed in the backyard. 'I caught the start of the rain and wind followed by the high speed wind ripping the gazebo off of the patio to which it was bolted down with 8 large bolts into the wood decking. It blew it off after shredding the fabric roof. I have never seen anything like that it my life,' he said. Tirendi walked away from windows to the interior of the house for safety as the tornado rolled through. Another iReporter captured photos of aftermath from the same storm.

- zdan, CNN iReport producer

iReport — 3 minute video of lightning, wind, rain, hail, and destruction from one of the two tornados that touched down in Macomb Township on 08-19-10 @ 19:30.

It looks like the tornado formed over us so I never got a shot of the funnel.

Senator Markey, Chairman of the Subcommitte on Energy and the Environment is very astute in making the government hold BP responsible for the damage to the lands and waters of the USA.

Representative Markey brought the cameras to the public, which included the scientific community.  It was the smartest thing he could have done. 

Representative Markey is a very smart man and we are lucky to have him.  He is taking information at hearings and making it matter.  He stated the work at the FDA was incomplete as they were testing the substances in the Gulf Coast Seafood was based upon the standards of a 176 pound male.  He stated to the FDA representative at the hearing that it was not acceptable to allow the most vulnerable, women and children, to be exposed to possible dangers that a 176 pound male might not.

Rep. Markey is an interesting man.  He uses the icon "BP" in several different methods to help people understand how disappointed the USA is in the performance of their payments to the citizens involved in this tragedy.

He stated BP does not mean "Be Prepared," or "Bills Paid." 

The facts are there is significant damage to the USA and its seafood industry.  To the extent is still unknown.  For the USA consumer to completely state, "We trust the seafood on our menu." is premature and that is a fact. 

There are some areas of the fisheries that simply need to be closed and there are other areas that need to be marked as opened and monitored on a daily basis.  Water moves and we know now the oil at the bottom of the Gulf is moving through a report by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

What is paramount as obvious to me is getting the oil of the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  I can't help but wonder if the water purifying machine developed by Kevin Kostner's Company won't help or be adapted to help.  The water in question is dually contaminated with oil/methane and dispersants.  Can the water purification process by Mr. Kostner's machine be adapted to separate the oil that is adhered to dispersants?  And can there be a 'suction system' that would deliver the 'contaminated deep water' to surface areas where these machines can harvest the contaminated waters and purify it?

I appreciate the work of the Subcommittee and I deeply appreciate the interest and compassion shown Americans by Rep. Markey.
BP oil leak victims face strings on $20bn spill fund  (click title to entry - thank you)
Victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will waive their right to sue BP staff and the energy major if they take money from the official $20bn (£13bn) compensation fund.
 
...However, final settlements to be decided later on in the year are likely to include clauses that prohibit recipients of compensation from launching further lawsuits....
 
The only criticism I have regarding this issue is that claimants should be told ahead of time as to what their settlement will be in order to decide whether they want to accept that or sue independantly. 

There is also the issue that fishermen adapted their boats to deploy skimmers and boom and they were paid for that employment.  That was a legitimate action by BP to compensate the fishermen with purposeful employment and monies.  If BP hadn't felt the need to provide that opportunity the dangers to the inland waters might be greater.  I believe while BP does want to exit the problem of balancing the cost of this disaster to their income and company viability, they haven't been completely negligent 'after the fact.'  That has to count for something no matter how aggrieved that value might be.  People cannot 'take advantage' of this disaster to compensate for 'pain and suffering.'  It has to be realized that while people lost income and that is important there is also 'emotional damage' to these people as well that need to be considered.
 
The payroll to this dispersement of monies is being paid by the Trust Fund and therefore the claimants should not feel as though they are victims to a process more powerful than they are. 
 
If the FDA is measuring dangerous elements and compounds and mixtures in the American diet by the effect on a 176 male, then that needs to be discarded as competent and 'models' adapted that truly reflect effects on men, women and children. 
 
The response by the scientific community in regard to this disaster has been remarkable.  There can be nothing said that diminishes their commitment to protect the waters of this country and the people that live around and with those waters.  I am impressed at the dedication of this community in its response to this disaster.  It has been remarkable.

18 states report drop in unemployment

STATE UNEMPLOYMENT LEVELS OUT: (click title to entry - thank you) Unemployment fell in 18 states and Washington, D.C. in July, while it increased in 14 states and stayed the same in 18, the government said Friday. That's a slowdown from the previous three months, when more than 30 states reported drops.

BRIGHT SPOTS: Massachusetts and New York both reported strong job growth. Massachusetts added 19,200 private sector jobs, the largest monthly gain in 20 years.
WARNING SIGNS: Manufacturers added jobs in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. But economists warned that it might not last unless consumers ramp up their spending.

Franklin Graham is an ignorant man. Forgive him, he knows now what he does. He ain't his father, that's for sure.

\.                                                                  .The Rev. Franklin Graham ( click titel to entry if you want to - it isn't a very enlightened view. Words of a bigot if you ask me, but, no one is asking me.) waded into the discussion with his own controversial explanation of why people wrongly believe the president is a Muslim. Graham, who prayed with Obama in a session with his father, Billy Graham, earlier this year, was asked whether he has any doubts about Obama's self-avowed Christian faith.

"I think the president's problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim....

Graham is dead "W”rong ! Barak Obama's father for the time he was alive and with his son was an atheist. He dismissed Muslim as a faith he abided by in his life. President Obama's mother was a Christian all her life. A non-practicing Christian, but, she raised the President and home schooled him as well as sent him to public schools. She was proud of his American heritage and insisted he maintain it from a young age.

Unfortunately, the President's father was mostly obscure to him. His mother was a 'woman of her time.' She believed in 'knowing and understanding' multiple faiths. She felt a knowledge of religion was important to a well rounded view of the world. I am sure that dedication to DIVERSITY has served the President well.

There are many marriages where each member of the couple has their own affiliation within their marriage. It is not uncommon for a Christian to marry a Hebrew. It is also not uncommon for the children of those marriages to be exposed to both religions as they grow up.

Recently, we witnessed a bi-religious marriage where Chelsea Clinton married a man that actively practices the Hebrew faith.

It is also not unusual for the children of such marriages to become adults and decide which religion is the center of their life.

That is what occurred for Barak Obama when he became an adult. He knew many religions and decided to be baptized in the Trinity United Church of Christ.

The issue here is not about the Muslim faith and whether or not the President rejected it to practice Christianity, it is the bigotry of the Southern Baptist convention and its willingness to advocate hate of other faiths, including other practices of Protestant religions. They reject every other form of religion and 'in that' reject any civilized approach to diversity.

The problem here as I see it, is about the demands of Evangelical Christians to dominate government policy over and above any other faith including Catholicism or the absence of faith. Franklin Graham needs to apologize to a nation insulted by his limited view of the world. He is allowed to practice that limited view, however, he is not allowed to espouse hate as a result of it. In other words, we all outside his view of the world HAVE TO tolerate him, but, he does not have to tolerate us. That is a definition of a bigot.

This isn't the first time religion has been 'an issue' in the USA, but, last the time the issue actually surrounded an election.

Then Seantor John F. Kennedy was a Catholic and the opposition to his candidacy believed the Pope would run the country and not the President. 

It can be said, under George W. Bush, the Pope did.

...While the so-called religious issue is necessarily (click title to entry - thank you) and properly the chief topic here tonight, I want to emphasize from the outset that I believe that we have far more critical issues in the 1960 campaign; the spread of Communist influence, until it now festers only 90 miles from the coast of Florida -- the humiliating treatment of our President and Vice President by those who no longer respect our power -- the hungry children I saw in West Virginia, the old people who cannot pay their doctors bills, the families forced to give up their farms -- an America with too many slums, with too few schools, and too late to the moon and outer space. These are the real issues which should decide this campaign. And they are not religious issues -- for war and hunger and ignorance and despair know no religious barrier.
But because I am a Catholic, and no Catholic has ever been elected President, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured -- perhaps deliberately, in some quarters less responsible than this. So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again -- not what kind of church I believe in, for that should be important only to me -- but what kind of America I believe in....

So what. IF the President were practicing the Muslim faith, which he is not, what difference does it make?

We've been through this moronity before.  We know where it is coming from and why.  The Republicans want to instill fear in the electorate because it works for them.  They don't care if citizens, innocent citizens are effected so long as they regain all the power they want.

End of Discussion.

No one can stop people from being stupid and bigots.  Heck, the tabloids thrive on it.  Gossip.  The same people that claim God is on their side believe this mess, too.

And, yes, Beck is a moron.  He is chasing money and that is all he is doing.  He doesn't care about the USA or the citizens within it.  He is a fear monger along with the RNC.

CNN's Beck to first-ever Muslim congressman: "[W]hat I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies' "

November 15, 2006 12:48 pm

On the November 14 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck interviewed Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), who became the first Muslim ever elected to Congress on November 7, and asked Ellison if he could "have five minutes here where we're just politically incorrect and I play the cards up on the table." After Ellison agreed, Beck said: "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' " Beck added: "I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way."

As Media Matters for America has noted, Beck previously warned that if "Muslims and Arabs" don't "act now" by "step[ping] to the plate" to condemn terrorism, they "will be looking through a razor wire fence at the West" and declared that "Muslims who have sat on your frickin' hands the whole time" rather than "lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head" will face dire consequences.

From the November 14 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck:

BECK: History was made last Tuesday when Democrat Keith Ellison got elected to Congress, representing the great state of Minnesota. Well, not really unusual that Minnesota would elect a Democrat. What is noteworthy is that Keith is the first Muslim in history to be elected to the House of Representatives. He joins us now.

Congratulations, sir.

ELLISON: How you doing, Glenn? Glad to be here.

BECK: Thank you. I will tell you, may I -- may we have five minutes here where we're just politically incorrect and I play the cards face up on the table?

ELLISON: Go there.

BECK: OK. No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. I've been to mosques. I really don't believe that Islam is a religion of evil. I -- you know, I think it's being hijacked, quite frankly.
With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, "Let's cut and run." And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."

And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.

ELLISON: Well, let me tell you, the people of the Fifth Congressional District know that I have a deep love and affection for my country. There's no one who is more patriotic than I am. And so, you know, I don't need to -- need to prove my patriotic stripes.

BECK: I understand that. And I'm not asking you to. I'm wondering if you see that. You come from a district that is heavily immigrant with Somalians. And I think it's wonderful, honestly, I think it is really a good sign that you are a -- you could be an icon to show Europe, this is the way you integrate into a country. I think the Somalians coming out and voting is a very good thing. With that --


ELLISON: I'd agree with you.


http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200611150004
 
 
Below is the survey results.  It proves how powerful propaganda can be in the USA.  We are suppose to be a country that embraces 'the truth.'  The question is WHAT TRUTH.  The manufactured truth pumped out everyday in the media, OR the actual truth.  There is a huge difference.  And I still don't know what the FCC is doing when the media can't perform better than this and is a threat to our national security and domestic peace.

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 19, 2010
By Jon Cohen and Michael D. Shear


The number of Americans who believe -- wrongly (click title to entry - thank you) -- that President Obama is a Muslim has increased significantly since his inauguration and now account for nearly 20 percent of the nation's population.
Those results, from a new Pew Research Center survey, were drawn from interviews done before the president's comments about the construction of an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, and they suggest that there could be serious political danger for the White House as the debate continues.,,,

Where is the 'CHANGE' President Obama promised? We are "OUTTA' there.

\

Last US Combat Troops Leave Iraq  (click title to entry - thank you)

Dan Robinson
Washington
18 August 2010

Two weeks ahead of the schedule set by President Barack Obama, the last U.S. combat troops have left Iraq. The departure fulfills a commitment that Mr. Obama made to transition the U.S. presence in Iraq from a military-led mission to an advisory and training operation.
U.S. news agencies and television networks embedded with departing troops confirmed the withdrawal, as the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which was officially designated as the last brigade to leave Iraq, crossed into Kuwait at the Khabari border crossing.
The departure is well ahead of the August 31st deadline set by President Obama for ending combat operations, and comes seven years and five months after the U.S. and coalition forces invaded Iraq in March 2003.
The news came at the end of an otherwise quiet news day in which President Obama was concluding a multi-state cross country trip focused on the U.S. economy and supporting Democratic political candidates.
Neither the president nor officials traveling with him gave any indication in advance of the accelerated withdrawal, nor did the White House issue any immediate statement...

When is the "Ground Breaking Ceremony" for the Lower Manhattan Mosque? This is all getting out of hand.

                                                                                             They are organizing a Sept. 11 rally against the mosque that will feature former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich. They advise the FBI and other government security agencies on the threats posed by Islamic radicalism, headline "tea party" events and attract millions of readers concerned or curious about Islam to Web sites with names such as Jihad Watch, Creeping Sharia and Stop Islamization of America....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/18/AR2010081802582.html

It is a political plot.  Innocent people are being victimized to propagate fear and it is taking root in other areas of the country.  This is outrageous !  The media is attempting to produce a fire storm.

...The Pentagon Memorial Chapel, which is maintained by the Pentagon Chaplain's Office, allows Muslims as well as Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Hindus and adherents of other denominations to worship just 80 feet or so from the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in Washington.
Pentagon officials told the AP that no families of the victims of 9/11 or members of the military have ever protested the fact that Muslims worship near hallowed ground -- or that the Pentagon itself promotes the open, nondenominational use of the chapel...

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/A-Ground-Zero-Mosque-in-Action-101009619.html


The Republicans have NO ISSUES to run on, so they victimize innocent people and who cares if there are injuries or death along the way.  They need to be held responsible should something tragic happen.




The Republicans are so very, very "W"rong.  They need to apologize to the country.


Op-Ed:
Couple behind Ground Zero mosque a model of tolerance


By Walter Ruby · August 18, 2010
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Over the last few months, I have had a front-row seat to history.
Last May, I spoke at a public hearing of Manhattan’s Community Board No. 1 in support of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan, the husband-and-wife team who initiated plans to build a 13-story Islamic community center two blocks north of Ground Zero.
I was there on behalf of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which has worked with the group Rauf and Khan lead, the American Society for Muslim Advancement, in ongoing efforts to strengthen Muslim-Jewish relations in the United States and around the world.
In my testimony at the hearing, I said that since our organizations began cooperating three years ago, I have consistently found both Feisal and Khan to be unequivocally opposed to violence and terrorism and deeply committed to the American values of democracy and pluralism. These are values, Feisal argues in his book, “What’s Right with Islam,” that are intrinsic to Islam as well....


http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/08/18/2740526/op-ed-couple-behind-ground-zero-mosque-a-model-of-tolerance


Anyone recall the Mission of The Daniel Pearl Foundation?

No?

Let me remind you.

Mission:  (click title to entry - thank you)
Mutual understanding and improved relationship between Muslim and Jews through frank and respectful dialogue.


The Ongoing Project:
Professors Ahmed and Pearl have been invited to share their dialogue in many stages in the U.S. and abroad. The conversations, which are never the same, cover issues from theology, history and ideology to politics and current news, and encourage audience participation. Two principles guide the conversation; first, no Issue is taboo and, second, respect at all times. Professors Ahmed and Pearl believe that these open and honest dialogues are essential for the future of humanity. It is their hope that these public dialogues will carve a path of legitimacy and inspire individuals and communities to continue the dialogue at the grass roots level.
In 2006, Professors Ahmed and Pearl were among the recipients of the first annual Purpose Prize “in recognition of [their] simple, yet innovative approach to solving one of society’s most pressing problems.”


The opposition to a place of worship and a community center is Anti-American.  I congratulate the Republicans for attaining an all time LOW.

Fighting the good fight. You can always tell when Murdoch is pushing for ratings and/or political bottomlines by the length of the women's skirts that host his shows.

The short skirt issue is especially evident on the "Fox and Friends" show with the low coffee table in front of the hosts.  It will change tomorrow, but, its true.  There were some mornings when the hemline was nearly up to her buttocks while she was sitting down. 

Bye, bye, Laura.  Everyone say good-bye to Laura.  BYEeeeee.

...“Black guys talking (click title to entry - thank you) to each other seem to think it’s O.K.,” she said. “I don’t get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it’s a horrible thing. But when black people say it, it’s affectionate.”...

Halliburton wins Iraq oil wells deal (click here)

Baghdad
Mon, 16 Aug 2010

Iraq, along with oil major Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia's Petronas have awarded a contract to Halliburton Co to drill 15 oil wells in the supergiant Majnoon oilfield, an oil official said on Monday.
Oil and gas services company Petrofac also won a contract to build two new crude processing plants with a capacity of 50,000 bpd per each and to rehabilitate the existing crude plant, the official added. - Reuters

The Iraq invasion was 'designed' by Halliburton under the direction of Dick Cheney when he was Defense Secretary under George H. W. Bush.

Halliburton has a very, very long history of doing business with countries that have supported terrorist networks.  They get away with it because they have so much money they simply pay fines that they view as 'operating costs.'  The USA Justice Department needs to start putting CEOs in prison after the legislature actually puts some 'teeth' into the law.

...Following the end of Operation Desert Storm in February 1991, the Pentagon, led by then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, paid Halliburton subsidiary Brown & Root Services over $8.5 million to study the use of private military forces with American soldiers in combat zones.[21] Halliburton crews also helped bring 725 burning oil wells under control in Kuwait.[22]
Thomas H. Cruikshank, who served as chairman and CEO from 1989 until 1995, was replaced by Dick Cheney.[23]
In the early 1990s Halliburton was found to be in violation of federal trade barriers in Iraq and Libya, having sold these countries dual-use oil drilling equipment and, through its former subsidiary, Halliburton Logging Services, sending six pulse neutron generators to Libya. After having pleaded guilty, the company was fined $1.2 million, with another $2.61 million in penalties.[24]
During the Balkans conflict in the 1990s, Kellogg Brown-Root (KBR) supported U.S. peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Hungary with food, laundry, transportation and other lifecycle management services.[25]
In 1998 Halliburton merged with Dresser Industries, which included Kellogg. Prescott Bush was a director of Dresser Industries, which is now part of Halliburton. Former United States president George H. W. Bush worked for Dresser Industries in several positions from 1948–1951, before he founded Zapata Corporation.[26]...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halliburton

The corruption won't end until the CEOs and Board of Directors serve time in prison for breaking the law.  To simply fine these huge companies for breaking the law, the USA appears to be a PARTNER that is 'on the take' AFTER THE FACT.

I really don't want to hear how if such laws existed there won't be anyone willing to be a CEO. 

Give me a break!

Alabama Sues BP, Halliburton, & Transocean for "Catastrophic" Oil Spill



Submitted by Leader Staff on August 13, 2010 - 3:50pm.
 
On Friday, Alabama attorney general Troy King announced that the state was suing BP Plc., Halliburton, and Transocean for "catastrophic harm" caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Alabama is the first state to sue BP for damage from the worst oil spill in United States' history.
Alabama's decision stems from the fear that economic victims will not be adequately compensated, and that BP will shirk its financial responsibility.
King explained:
"We are making this claim because we believe that BP has inflicted catastrophic harm on the state ... We are suing them for the amount it will take to make Alabama whole."
Amongst others, the lawsuit also named Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
Transocean was the owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded and sank in April. BP hired the rig. Hallburton provided the cement work for the well, and Anadarko was a minority owner.
The lawsuit alleges:
"It is believed the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon was a blowout relating to the cementing work."...

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/14359


Fla. developer sues Halliburton over Gulf spill
August 05, 2010
By SAMANTHA BOMKAMP
AP Business Writer
New York, NY 10001, United States — (08-05) 08:54 PDT New York (AP) --


Florida real estate developer St. Joe Co. is suing Halliburton Co. over its role in the rig explosion that led to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.


St. Joe said late Wednesday that Halliburton, which was responsible for encasing BP PLC's subsea well in cement, ignored safety procedures and didn't properly manage the cementing process. In deepwater drilling, cementing is a critical element in preventing oil and gas from escaping from the well....

http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-08-05/business/22206452_1_bp-plc-halliburton-rig-explosion

The right to voite without equality. Huh?

On the left, Susan B. Anthony. 


On the right, Elizabeth Kady Stanton.


Their accomplishment?


The 19th Amendment to the USA Constitution which insured women the right to vote.


Whatever happened to The Equal Rights Amendment?


It is outrageous in this country that women out number men and they aren't 'interested' in having equal rights AND RESPONSIBLITIES under the law?  Amazing.  How can women vote on any issue or for any candidate unless they understand the full brevity of citizenship on equal status with the opposite gender? 

Stanton/Anthony Friendship

"I revolted in spirit against the customs of society and the laws of the state that crushed my aspirations and debarred me from the pursuit of almost every object worthy of an intelligent, rational mind."


Emily Collins

These words summed up the sense of protest evoked in a significant number of women by the status allotted to them during the early part of the nineteenth century. Young Elizabeth Cady learned Greek and acquainted herself with law in her father's office. Instead of winning his praise, he only lamented "Elizabeth, if only you were a boy." Young middle-class women of the time watched their brothers depart for college while they stayed at home, lost all rights to property when they married (William Blackstone had said in his famous Commentaries, "Husband and wife are one and that one is the husband"), and, in some cases, were subjected to legally permissible physical punishment at the hands of their spouses to ensure their "obedience." If they spoke in public, they were denounced by the churches for "promiscuous activity." Most important, women were denied any voice in enactment of laws by which they were governed....

So, now as second class citizens women are allowed a voice in the laws created to govern them, but, they aren't allowed the status of men. 

I wonder why there is still a glass ceiling?

And the women of the USA have the audacity to pass judgement on other oppressed women?

Really?

Let's see, women in the USA don't like women to be stoned in public in the Middle East, but, they have no need for completely equal footing with men in their own country.  Isn't that just a tad bit ludicrous? 

What gives USA women the right to speak against the cruel treatment of women elsewhere? 

Freedom of Speech? 

Are you sure?